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Dad says – Planning a Walt Disney World vacation is not a solo sport

Planning a Walt Disney World vacation is not a solo sport!

Dad’s tip of the week. This week I’m talking about how planning a Walt Disney World vacation is not a solo sport, and I’m just going to, again, read right out of the book just because it’s what I talk about right up front. I mean, this is on page 27.

Right out of Dad’s book. Page 27!

Planning is not a solo sport. It’s very important. Here’s the story. There is one thing, one single thing, one single big thing, one single big secret thing. There is one single, big, secret thing which, more than anything else will ensure that you have a stress-free Walt Disney World vacation.

Okay, so I’m going to tell the story about the trip I took in 1994. Things were a little different then. Some of the attractions I mentioned no longer exist. Don’t worry, there’s lots of new great stuff that is open now that wasn’t there.

Dad’s Planning a Walt Disney World Vacation is not a solo sport story

All right, so here’s the story:

“The Titanic has nothing on me. THE PLAN was perfect. Books will be written about THE PLAN. Monuments will be built to THE PLAN. Hundreds of hours had gone into developing THE PLAN. The years of research had went into THE PLAN. THE PLAN was going perfectly until ….

This was late May 1994, one of those perfect Florida late spring mornings. The sun broke over the horizon and danced lightly on the perfect manicured, dew-covered lawns. Birds, real ones, sang softly in the abundant foliage. The early morning colors exploded, trumpeting the start of another lovely day.

Don’t I write great? That’s so cool.

THE PLAN was succeeding beyond my wildest dreams. We had stopped at the Disney Travel Center in Ocala on our way down and found a great price for upgrading to the Polynesian. We checked, and they gave us a room in the Pago Pago Building, which was perfect. We were less than 100 yards from the Transportation and Ticket Center.

When the alarm went off in the morning, the kids jumped right up. They were so excited. Then Man-Child absolutely loved the day bed, and he thought it was put in the room just for him. He already had a nest built. The Princess had gone to sleep in the bed all by herself. She was pumped. She got both the autograph books packed and as ready to go. She’s a good sister.

All right, THE PLAN was working brilliantly. The girls brought over breakfast. The boys got ready. We walked out of the room to the Transportation and Ticket Center. We were the only ones there, so we got to ride up in front in the monorail.

Oh boy. Those were the days. That doesn’t happen anymore, but it was awesome. All right, so we go over to the monorail. We go over to EPCOT, and then it happened. We came out of the Living Seas, and I started to rush us over to Body Wars.

“Why can’t we go into that building? That looks like fun,” someone said innocently. Booooooooommmmm.

“Because that’s not on THE PLAN,” I said forcefully. Being the leader of the family, I sometimes say things forcefully, and that’s all that needs to be said. “What plan?” Mrs. Mom asked. FLLUUUUSSSSSHHHHH.

“THE PLAN!” I said. It was time to put an end to this uprising and get back on THE PLAN.

“Where did this plan come from?” CCRRRRAAAASSSHHHHH!

“THE PLAN, it came from above.” I said, trying to put a humorous end to this useless bickering and get us back on schedule. We were now five minutes behind THE PLAN.

“I’d like to see this plan.” Mrs. Mom said. DOOOWWWWWWNNNN IIINNNN FFFLLLLLLAAAAAAAAMMMMMMEEEESSSS.

It was time to put an end to this. We were rapidly losing time, and the lines were getting longer and longer each second. It was time to put my foot down. “No! We’ve got to get moving or we won’t get everything done.” I said. You should have been there. I was such a man.

Mrs. Mom was not having any of it. Come on kids. Let’s go back to the hotel. Your dad is being unreasonable again. What do you mean? I’m the most reasonable man in the whole wide world.”

So, the one big takeaway is planning a Walt Disney World vacation is not a solo sport. Everyone who is going on the trip should be involved in the planning process. Just look at what happened when I tried to make THE PLAN by myself. It was a nightmare. It really was a nightmare.

A Shared PLAN works best

When we got together, and we started working together on THE PLAN, and we went through every day, and we adjusted THE PLAN, it worked great. So, planning a WDW vacation is not a solo sport. Don’t do it by yourself. Share. Get everybody involved. Hey, it’s Disney World. We’re going to Disney World. We’re all going together. But planning is not a solo sport, and that’s dad’s Tip of the Week!